Speaker 1: So thanks to my stupid boss, I almost missed Jack's
party last Friday night. Luckily, the party was still going
on when I arrived and most of my friends were
still there. Almost all of the food was gone, though,
so I mostly ate chips.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven sixty six,
Almost most and mostly Today we're gonna tackle a trio
of words that can be pretty tricky for a lot
of English learners. Almost most and mostly. Even if you
are pretty comfortable with your English, you might find that
these little words still trip you up from time to time.
So let's look at where they pop up, how they're
used differently, and how you can really make them work
for you to boost your fluency. And let's kick things
off with almost almost has that feeling of pretty close
but not quite Imagine you're running to catch a bus
or a subway. Happens all the time here in New York.
You run down the stairs, practically fly into the train,
and at that moment when both feet are inside Bam,
the doors slam shut right behind you. I almost missed
my train. It was pretty close to missing it, but
I was just fast enough. I almost missed it, close
but not. And in all of that excitement to get
on the train, I almost dropped my book. Luckily I didn't.
I almost dropped it means I was close to dropping
my book, but I didn't drop it. And why was
I rushing for the train Because I had to work
late and I wanted to get to Jack's party as
soon as possible. Yeah, thanks to my stupid boss, I
almost missed Jack's party. Luckily, the party was still going
on when I arrived. Another common way we use almost
is with numbers, like it's almost midnight, pretty close to midnight,
but not there yet. It's like eleven fifty five pm,
almost midnight last night on the subway. When I saw
that I was one station away from Union Square, I
knew I was almost there, almost at the closest station
to Jack's house. And my mom, well, she's ninety four
and her birthday is in December. That means, yep, you
guessed it. She's almost ninety five years old. Close, but
not there. Yet when we want to make general statements
about people and things, we can also use phrases like
almost everyone or almost everything, Like almost everyone loves pizza. Yeah,
you might find someone who doesn't, but come on, it's pizza.
Almost everyone I know likes pizza, And in New York City,
pizza shops are almost everywhere almost everywhere, close to everywhere,
but not everywhere. And another way to say almost everyone
is with almost all. Almost all of my friends like pizza.
Not everyone, but pretty close. Almost all of my friends,
and almost all of the pizza shops in the city
have decent pizza. And speaking of things being almost perfect,
let's shift gears a bit and talk about most. Most
and almost all have exactly the same meaning. They can
be interchangeable in certain situations. Like most people enjoy a
good movie, you could easily swap most for almost all.
Like almost all people enjoy a good movie most people
almost all people. Both of these have the same meaning,
but there's a difference in how we use them. Grammatically.
You wouldn't say most my friends are here, you'd say
most of my friends. So when we're talking about a
general group, it's most most most plus a plural noun
But if we're getting specific, it's most plus of plus
your chosen determiner plus a plural noun. Most people like pizza.
Most of my friends like pizza. Listen to that. Again,
most people like pizza. That's people in general. Most of
my friends like pizza. That's more of a small group.
Speaker 2: Ah.
Speaker 1: Those little grammar nuances can really make a difference. And
speaking of what you can't say, be careful about using
almost followed by a noun like almost people like pizza.
Almost people close to people but not people. Are they chimpanzees?
Chimpanzees are close to people but not people. When you
want to talk about nearly all people, use almost all
people or most people but not all moost people. It's
like once someone asked me, almost Americans like pizza. Right, hm,
let's see almost Americans. Is that people with a green card?
They're almost Americans? But I think a better way to
ask is with almost all Americans or most Americans like pizza. Right? Okay.
The last word for today is mostly. Mostly is all
about frequency. It's about those actions you do a lot
of the time, but not necessarily all of the time.
Like I mostly drink coffee in the morning, I mostly
drink coffee. It doesn't mean I never have tea. It
just means a lot of the time I drink coffee,
and in my free time I mostly watch movies. So
mostly talks about what usually happens. I mostly drink coffee
in the morning. That's pretty usual, And in my free time,
I mostly watch movies. That's pretty usual too. So let's
sum all this up. Almost means close, but not like
I almost miss the train or it's almost lunchtime. Almost
all is the same as most like almost all of
my friends like pizza, or most people like pizza, and
mostly tells us what you usually happens. I mostly drink
coffee in the morning. Keep in mind, the best way
to remember vocabulary like this and any other word or
phrase in English is to take that word or phrase,
write it in a sentence that's true for you or
true in your world, and then memorize your sentences. Hey,
did you know that you can get the chance to
practice this kind of English with me directly. You can
get more practice using your English when you join my
podcast Learner's Study Group. There you can make new friends.
Join us for live group lessons every week where we
practice these podcast lessons together. Plus you get access to
the PDF, transcript and audio download for every Happy English
podcast in the past and in the future. And on
top of that, each episode has exercises where you can
practice this English point with speaking and writing checked by me.
To learn more, just visit Myhappy English dot com and
choose podcast lesson seven sixty six. Remember, learning another language
is not easy, but it's not impossible, and I'm here
to help you on your journey.
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